Stockton,Calif—Beginning the second to last week of Mountain Pacific Sports Federation conference play, No. 4 UC Santa Barbara (15-8, 1-5) traveled to No. 7 Pacific (12-7, 3-2) for Saturday's showdown. Aiming to recover from last weekend's loss to No. 1 USC, the Gauchos were motivated to bounce back with a win. Unfortunately, the Gauchos had an off day as they fell to the Tigers, 12-5.

In the first period, Dylan Baliani put UCSB on the scoreboard first as he gave the Gauchos the 1-0 lead with 4:51 left in the period. Pacific answered back with two goals of their own as Balazs Erdelyi and Kevin Oliveira put the Tigers up 2-1.

The second period was a struggle for UC Santa Barbara as they were outscored in the period 6-1. With Pacific's Aleksandar Petrovic three goals in the period to help the Tigers break open their lead, UCSB was facing an even bigger deficit. The lone goal in the period for UC Santa Barbara occurred with 5:24 left as Eric Van de Mortel scored. The Tigers were too much for the Gauchos in the second period, as UCSB was down 8-2 at the end of the half.

Opening the second half, Pacific tallied another goal as Balazs Erdelyi netted his third of the game with 6:54 left in the third period. Answering back for UCSB was Brendan McElroy as he scored a 4:59 goal. With 4:38 left, Eric Van de Mortel got his second goal of the game as he put the ball in the back of the net on a five meter shot to cut the deficit to 9-4. The Tigers scored two unanswered goals of their own late in the period to increase their lead to 11-4.

Facing a seven goal deficit, UCSB was looking at a tough task of playing catch up. Evan Dellinger scored a 7:43 goal, making the score 11-5. That was it for the Gauchos as they could not come back from behind. In the end, No. 7 Pacific pulled off the upset and defeated No. 4 UC Santa Barbara by the score of 12-5.

Leading the Gauchos' offense was Eric Van de Mortel with two goals while Dylan Baliani, Brendan McElroy and Evan Dellinger added one goal apiece. Defensively, senior goalkeeper Myles Christian recorded 10 saves while freshmen, Chris Whitelegge tallied two saves late in the fourth period.

The Gauchos must move on quickly as they complete their road swing to Berkeley to face No. 6 Cal (13-7, 3-3) tomorrow, Nov. 11, at noon. UCSB will then come back home to face Long Beach State next Saturday, Nov. 17 at the UCSB Campus Pool at noon. Seniors, Myles Christian and Brian Shoemaker will be honored at that game as it is their last MPSF conference play action.

Tickets for home men's water polo games are available by visiting the Ticket Office in the Intercollegiate Athletics Building on campus, by calling (805) 893-UCSB or by clicking here.